


Sanity

by Tortellini



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Crazy Azula (Avatar), Gen, Mental Anguish, Mental Breakdown, Mental Disintegration, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Motherhood, POV Azula (Avatar), POV First Person, Sad, Sad Ending, Season/Series 03, Wordcount: 100-500
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-18 02:35:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28859673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tortellini/pseuds/Tortellini
Summary: Two sides of a mirror: Ursa and Azula.Oneshot/drabble
Kudos: 4





	Sanity

My teenaged daughter Azula's hair hung in crude hunks around her face. She grinned insanely in the mirror. 

"What a shame," I murmured sadly. "You always had such beautiful hair..."

"What are you doing here, _Mother?"_ Azula hissed the last word. 

"I wouldn't miss my own daughter's coronation."

"You hated me." she growled. 

I sighed. "I don't hate you, Azula. I just think you're confused. You use fear to control people, like your friends Mai and Ty Lee."

"Fear is the only reliable way." Azula answered immediately. "Trust is for the weak. Even you fear me."

I pressed my hand against the glass of the mirror and opened my mouth to respond to that. But she spoke again before I could. 

"You loved Zuko." Her voice sounded smaller then. "You thought I was a monster."

"No, Azula, I love you..."

Tears streamed down her face. My words seemed to echo around us: _I love you..._

"No! Liar!"

She threw the hairbrush at my reflection in the mirror. 

It shattered.

* * *

"Be prepared to meet your match, hair," I said, standing in front of my bedroom mirror with a pair of scissors. Chunks of my uneven hair were left when I was done. 

"...what a shame. You always had such beautiful hair."

My blood turned to ice: _Mother._

"What are you doing here, Mother?" I snarled, staring at her reflection in the mirror.

"I wouldn't miss my own daughter's coronation."

"You hated me." It was true. 

"I don't hate you Azula. I just think you're confused. You use fear to control people. Like your friends Mai and Ty Lee."

I turned away and grabbed my hairbrush. "Fear is the only reliable way. Trust is for the weak. Even you fear me." I took a deep shuddering breath and continued before she could say anything in response to that: "You loved Zuko. You thought I was a monster."

"No, Azula, I love you..."

It echoed in my brain, making it hard to think. 

"No!" I shrieked suddenly. "Liar!"

I slammed the brush in the mirror, breaking it. It shattered. 

My knees buckled. And then I sobbed. 


End file.
